Scheduling Method, Access Point, Scheduling Server, and Scheduling System

ABSTRACT

Embodiments disclose a scheduling method. The method includes sending, by an access point, a scheduling request to a first scheduling server according to a data transmission requirement, where the scheduling request includes frequency band bandwidth information of a contention frequency band that is applied for and frequency band use time information of the contention frequency band that is applied for. The method also includes receiving, by the access point, a contention frequency band that is allocated by the first scheduling server to the access point according to a spectrum list and the scheduling request, where the spectrum list includes at least frequency band use information and interference information of the access point. The method also includes performing, by the access point, scheduling transmission by using the allocated contention frequency band.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Patent ApplicationNo. PCT/CN2013/089700, filed on Dec. 17, 2013, which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of communicationstechnologies, and in particular, to a scheduling method, an accesspoint, a scheduling server, and a scheduling system.

BACKGROUND

Access modes of a current wireless communications system may be mainlyclassified into two types: scheduling access and contention access. Thescheduling access is generally applied to authorized frequency bands,that is, some charging frequency bands, for example, various cellularnetworks such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM forshort), a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS for short),Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX for short), andLong Term Evolution (LTE for short). The contention access generallyoperates on non-authorized frequency bands, that is, some free frequencybands, for example, Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN for short).Because a contention access mechanism introduces a large quantity ofdelays and collisions, a WLAN system not an efficient system.Especially, when a quantity of terminals that request to access thesystem or have accessed the system is growing, the busyness of thesystem also increases drastically. To resolve this problem, existingscheduling access may be introduced based on a contention access mode inthe WLAN system, and a station (STA) or an access point is instructed,according to an actual situation, to switch between contention accessand scheduling access. However, this solution supports only full-banduse, that is, either contention access is used on all frequency bands orscheduling access is used on all frequency bands; moreover, thescheduling access mode is based on signaling design of contentionaccess. Therefore, overheads and flexibility are inevitably limited.

SUMMARY

Embodiments provide a scheduling method, an access point, a schedulingserver, and a scheduling system, so as to achieve an objective ofcoexistence of scheduling access and contention access, and improveefficiency and compatibility of a wireless communications system.

A first aspect of the embodiments provides a scheduling method. Themethod includes sending, by an access point, a scheduling request to afirst scheduling server according to a data transmission requirement,where the scheduling request includes frequency band bandwidthinformation of a contention frequency band that is applied for andfrequency band use time information of the contention frequency bandthat is applied for. The method also includes receiving, by the accesspoint, a contention frequency band that is allocated by the firstscheduling server to the access point according to a spectrum list andthe scheduling request, where the spectrum list includes at leastfrequency band use information and interference information of theaccess point. The method also includes performing, by the access point,scheduling transmission by using the allocated contention frequencyband.

In a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, thesending, by an access point, a scheduling request to a first schedulingserver according to a data transmission requirement includes:determining, by the access point according to the data transmissionrequirement, whether data is transmitted in a contention frequency bandmanner or a scheduling frequency band manner, and if data is transmittedin the scheduling frequency band manner, sending the scheduling requestto the first scheduling server.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the firstaspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the determining, bythe access point according to the data transmission requirement, whetherdata is transmitted in a contention frequency band manner or ascheduling frequency band manner specifically includes: when a servicepriority of the data transmission requirement is lower than a presetpriority, or when a data capacity of the data transmission requirementis less than a preset capacity, or when a data packet length of the datatransmission requirement is greater than a preset packet length, or whena data rate of the data transmission requirement is less than a presetrate, transmitting data in the contention frequency band manner; or whena service priority of the data transmission requirement is higher thanor equal to a preset priority, or when a data capacity of the datatransmission requirement is greater than or equal to a preset capacity,or when a data packet length of the data transmission requirement isless than a preset packet length, or when a data rate of the datatransmission requirement is greater than a preset rate, transmittingdata in the scheduling frequency band manner.

With reference to the first aspect or with reference to the first orsecond possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a thirdpossible implementation manner, the performing, by the access point,scheduling transmission by using the allocated contention frequency bandincludes: sending, by the access point to a station (STA) associatedwith the access point, data directly by using the allocated contentionfrequency band without listening on a channel; or instructing, by theaccess point, a station (STA) associated with the access point to switchfrom a contention access mode to a scheduling access mode, so that thestation (STA) associated with the access point sends data to the accesspoint directly by using the allocated contention frequency band withoutlistening on a channel.

With reference to the first aspect or with reference to the first,second, or third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, ina fourth possible implementation manner, the interference information isacquired by the access point by listening on the channel and is reportedto the first scheduling server; or the interference information isobtained, through calculation, by the first scheduling server accordingto location information of the access point and signal receiving andtransmitting statuses of another access point that is a preset distancefrom the access point; and the interference information comprises aninterference source, an interference frequency band range, andinterference intensity.

With reference to the first aspect or with reference to the first,second, third, or fourth possible implementation manner of the firstaspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, if a management areaof the first scheduling server and a management area of a secondscheduling server have an overlapping area, and the access point islocated in the overlapping area, the method includes: after sending thescheduling request to the first scheduling server, receiving, by theaccess point, a decision result returned by a decision server orreceiving a decision result forwarded by the first scheduling server,and performing scheduling transmission according to an allocatedcontention frequency band in the decision result, where a managementarea of each scheduling server is determined according to a spectrumlist corresponding to each scheduling server, and the decision result isfurther used to inform the second scheduling server of the contentionfrequency band allocated by the decision server to the access point; orafter sending the scheduling request to the first scheduling server,receiving, by the access point, a contention frequency band that isallocated by the first scheduling server to the access point accordingto a frequency band range allocated in advance by a decision server, andperforming scheduling transmission.

With reference to the fifth possible implementation manner of the firstaspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner, the allocatedcontention frequency band in the decision result is determined by thedecision server in at least one of the following manners: allocatingdifferent frequency bands to different access points; and allocatingdifferent time ranges for using a same frequency band to differentaccess points.

With reference to the first aspect or with reference to the first,second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth possible implementation manner ofthe first aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner, themethod further includes: if the access point detects, in coveragethereof, another access point that is not connected to the firstscheduling server, reporting location information, coverage information,and information about an occupied contention frequency band that are ofthe detected another access point to the first scheduling server, sothat the first scheduling server updates the spectrum list and performscontention frequency band scheduling according to an updated spectrumlist.

With reference to the first aspect or with reference to the first,second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner,the method further includes: broadcasting, by the access point to abasic service set associated with the access point, a scheduling channelbeing used and a scheduling frequency band in which the schedulingchannel is located, so that a station (STA) that is in the basic serviceset and that does not use the scheduling channel or that does not usethe scheduling frequency band in which the scheduling channel is locatedapplies to use the scheduling channel and the scheduling frequency bandin which the scheduling channel is located.

With reference to the first aspect or with reference to the first,second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth possibleimplementation manner of the first aspect, in a ninth possibleimplementation manner, the method further includes: receiving, by theaccess point, scheduling termination information sent by the firstscheduling server, and stopping using a contention frequency bandindicated in the scheduling termination information for schedulingtransmission; or when duration in which the access point performsscheduling transmission by using the contention frequency band allocatedby the first scheduling server reaches duration defined in the frequencyband use time information of the contention frequency band that isapplied for, stopping, by the access point, using the contentionfrequency band allocated by the first scheduling server for schedulingtransmission.

With reference to the first aspect or with reference to the first,second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, or ninth possibleimplementation manner of the first aspect, in a tenth possibleimplementation manner, the scheduling request further includes:frequency band range information of the contention frequency band thatis applied for.

A second aspect of the embodiments provides a scheduling method. Themethod includes receiving, by an access point, a contention frequencyband that is allocated by a first scheduling server to the access pointwithin first preset duration according to a scheduling indication tableand a spectrum list, where the scheduling indication table includescapability indication information about whether the access pointsupports scheduling transmission and information about a schedulingbandwidth supported by the access point, and the spectrum list includesfrequency band use information and interference information of theaccess point. The method also includes performing, by the access point,scheduling transmission by using the contention frequency band allocatedby the first scheduling server.

In a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, theperforming, by the access point, scheduling transmission by using thecontention frequency band allocated by the first scheduling serverincludes: sending, by the access point to a station (STA) associatedwith the access point, data directly by using the allocated contentionfrequency band in scheduling indication information without listening ona channel; or instructing, by the access point, a station (STA)associated with the access point to switch from a contention access modeto a scheduling access mode, so that the station (STA) associated withthe access point sends data to the access point directly by using theallocated contention frequency band in scheduling indication informationwithout listening on a channel.

With reference to the second aspect or with reference to the firstpossible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a secondpossible implementation manner, the interference information is acquiredby the access point by listening on the channel and is reported theinterference information is obtained, through calculation, by the firstscheduling server according to location information of the access pointand signal receiving and transmitting statuses of another access pointthat is a preset distance from the access point; and the interferenceinformation comprises an interference source, an interference frequencyband range, and interference intensity.

With reference to the second aspect or with reference to the first orsecond possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a thirdpossible implementation manner, if a management area of the firstscheduling server and a management area of a second scheduling serverhave an overlapping area, and the access point is located in theoverlapping area, the contention frequency band allocated by the firstscheduling server to the access point is in a frequency band range thatis allocated in advance by a decision server.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the secondaspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the frequency bandrange allocated in advance is determined by the decision server in atleast one of the following manners: allocating different frequency bandsto different access points; and allocating different time ranges forusing a same frequency band to different access points.

In a fifth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, themethod further includes: sending, by the access point, a schedulingrequest to the first scheduling server according to a data transmissionrequirement, where the scheduling request includes frequency bandbandwidth information of a contention frequency band that is applied forand frequency band use time information of the contention frequency bandthat is applied for. The method also includes receiving, by the accesspoint within second preset duration, a contention frequency band that isallocated by the first scheduling server to the access point accordingto the spectrum list and the scheduling request, where the second presetduration is less than the first preset duration. The method alsoincludes, if the contention frequency band that is allocated by thefirst scheduling server to the access point according to the schedulingindication table and the spectrum list has been taken back by the firstscheduling server, performing, by the access point, schedulingtransmission by using the contention frequency band that is allocated bythe first scheduling server to the access point according to thespectrum list and the scheduling request; or if the contention frequencyband that is allocated by the first scheduling server to the accesspoint according to the scheduling indication table and the spectrum listis not taken back by the first scheduling server, performing, by theaccess point, scheduling transmission by using the contention frequencyband that is allocated by the first scheduling server according to thescheduling indication table and the spectrum list and the contentionfrequency band that is allocated by the first scheduling server to theaccess point according to the spectrum list and the scheduling request.

A third aspect of the embodiments provides a scheduling method. Themethod includes receiving, by a first scheduling server, a schedulingrequest that is sent by an access point according to a data transmissionrequirement, where the scheduling request includes frequency bandbandwidth information of a contention frequency band that is applied forand frequency band use time information of the contention frequency bandthat is applied for. The method also includes allocating, by the firstscheduling server, a contention frequency band to the access pointaccording to a spectrum list and the scheduling request, where thespectrum list includes at least frequency band use information andinterference information of the access point. The method also includessending a contention frequency band allocation result to the accesspoint, so that the access point performs scheduling transmission byusing the allocated contention frequency band.

In a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, thescheduling request is initiated when the access point determines,according to the data transmission requirement, that data needs to betransmitted in a scheduling frequency band manner, which specificallyincludes: the scheduling request is initiated by the access point when aservice priority of the data transmission requirement is higher than orequal to a preset priority, or when a data capacity of the datatransmission requirement is greater than or equal to a preset capacity,or when a data packet length of the data transmission requirement isless than a preset packet length, or when a data rate of the datatransmission requirement is greater than a preset rate.

With reference to the third aspect or with reference to the firstpossible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second possibleimplementation manner, the interference information is acquired by theaccess point by listening on the channel and is reported to the firstscheduling server; or the interference information is obtained, throughcalculation, by the first scheduling server according to locationinformation of the access point and signal receiving and transmittingstatuses of another access point that is a preset distance from theaccess point; and the interference information includes an interferencesource, an interference frequency band range, and interferenceintensity.

With reference to the third aspect or with reference to the first orsecond possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a thirdpossible implementation manner, after the sending a contention frequencyband allocation result to the access point, the method further includes:updating, by the first scheduling server, the spectrum list, andrecording the allocated contention frequency band and an allocated usetime thereof.

With reference to the third aspect or with reference to the first,second, or third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, ina fourth possible implementation manner, the method further includes: ifa management area of the first scheduling server and a management areaof a second scheduling server have an overlapping area, and the accesspoint is located in the overlapping area, after the first schedulingserver receives the scheduling request sent by the access point,sending, by the first scheduling server, the scheduling request to adecision server, receiving a decision result that is returned by thedecision server after the decision server makes a decision, andforwarding the decision result to the access point, so that the accesspoint performs scheduling transmission according to an allocatedcontention frequency band in the decision result, where a managementarea of each scheduling server is determined according to a spectrumlist corresponding to each scheduling server, and the decision result isfurther used to inform the second scheduling server of the contentionfrequency band allocated by the decision server to the access point; orallocating, by the first scheduling server, a contention frequency bandto the access point according to a frequency band range that isallocated in advance by a decision server.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the thirdaspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, the allocatedcontention frequency band in the decision result is determined by thedecision server in at least one of the following manners: allocatingdifferent frequency bands to different access points; and allocatingdifferent time ranges for using a same frequency band to differentaccess points.

With reference to the third aspect or with reference to the first,second, third, fourth, or fifth possible implementation manner of thethird aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner, the methodfurther includes: if the access point detects, in coverage thereof,another access point that is not connected to the first schedulingserver, receiving, by the first scheduling server, location information,coverage information, and information about an occupied contentionfrequency band of the another access point that are reported by theaccess point; and updating, by the first scheduling server, the spectrumlist, and performing contention frequency band scheduling according toan updated spectrum list.

With reference to the third aspect or with reference to the first,second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth possible implementation manner ofthe third aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner, themethod further includes: sending, by the first scheduling server,scheduling termination information to the access point, to instruct theaccess point to stop using a contention frequency band indicated in thescheduling termination information for scheduling transmission; or whenduration in which the access point performs scheduling transmission byusing the contention frequency band allocated by the first schedulingserver reaches duration defined in the frequency band use timeinformation of the contention frequency band that is applied for, takingback, by the first scheduling server, the allocated contention frequencyband and updating the spectrum list.

With reference to the third aspect or with reference to the first,second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh possible implementationmanner of the third aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner,the scheduling request further includes: frequency band rangeinformation of the contention frequency band that is applied for.

A fourth aspect of the embodiments provides a scheduling method. Themethod includes allocating, by a first scheduling server, a contentionfrequency band to an access point within first preset duration accordingto a scheduling indication table and a spectrum list, where thescheduling indication table includes capability indication informationabout whether the access point supports scheduling transmission andinformation about a scheduling bandwidth supported by the access point,and the spectrum list includes frequency band use information andinterference information of the access point. The method also includessending a contention frequency band allocation result to the accesspoint, so that the access point performs scheduling transmission byusing the allocated contention frequency band.

In a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, theinterference information is acquired by the access point by listening onthe channel and is reported to the first scheduling server; or theinterference information is obtained, through calculation, by the firstscheduling server according to location information of the access pointand signal receiving and transmitting statuses of another access pointthat is a preset distance from the access point; and the interferenceinformation includes an interference source, an interference frequencyband range, and interference intensity.

With reference to the fourth aspect or with reference to the firstpossible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a secondpossible implementation manner, if a management area of the firstscheduling server and a management area of a second scheduling serverhave an overlapping area, and the access point is located in theoverlapping area, the contention frequency band allocated by the firstscheduling server to the access point is in a frequency band range thatis allocated in advance by a decision server.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of thefourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the frequencyband range allocated in advance is determined by the decision server inat least one of the following manners: allocating different frequencybands to different access points; and allocating different time rangesfor using a same frequency band to different access points.

With reference to the fourth aspect or with reference to the first,second, or third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, ina fourth possible implementation manner, the method further includes:receiving, by the first scheduling server, a scheduling request that issent by the access point according to a data transmission requirement,where the scheduling request includes frequency band bandwidthinformation of a contention frequency band that is applied for andfrequency band use time information of the contention frequency bandthat is applied for; allocating, by the first scheduling server withinsecond preset duration, a contention frequency band to the access pointaccording to the spectrum list and the scheduling request, where thesecond preset duration is less than the first preset duration; and ifthe contention frequency band that is allocated by the first schedulingserver to the access point according to the scheduling indication tableand the spectrum list has been taken back by the first schedulingserver, instructing the access point to perform scheduling transmissionby using the contention frequency band that is allocated by the firstscheduling server to the access point according to the spectrum list andthe scheduling request; or if the contention frequency band that isallocated by the first scheduling server to the access point accordingto the scheduling indication table and the spectrum list is not takenback by the first scheduling server, instructing the access point toperform scheduling transmission by using the contention frequency bandthat is allocated by the first scheduling server according to thescheduling indication table and the spectrum list and the contentionfrequency band that is allocated by the first scheduling server to theaccess point according to the spectrum list and the scheduling request.

A fifth aspect of the embodiments provides an access point. The accesspoint includes a sending unit, configured to send a scheduling requestto a first scheduling server according to a data transmissionrequirement, where the scheduling request includes frequency bandbandwidth information of a contention frequency band that is applied forand frequency band use time information of the contention frequency bandthat is applied for. The access point also includes a receiving unit,configured to receive a contention frequency band that is allocated bythe first scheduling server to the access point according to a spectrumlist and the scheduling request, where the spectrum list includes atleast frequency band use information and interference information of theaccess point. The access point also includes a scheduling transmissionunit, configured to perform scheduling transmission by using theallocated contention frequency band.

In a first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, thesending unit is further configured to determine, according to the datatransmission requirement, whether data is transmitted in a contentionfrequency band manner or a scheduling frequency band manner, and if datais transmitted in the scheduling frequency band manner, send thescheduling request to the first scheduling server.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the fifthaspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the sending unit isfurther configured to: when a service priority of the data transmissionrequirement is lower than a preset priority, or when a data capacity ofthe data transmission requirement is less than a preset capacity, orwhen a data packet length of the data transmission requirement isgreater than a preset packet length, or when a data rate of the datatransmission requirement is less than a preset rate, transmit data inthe contention frequency band manner; or when a service priority of thedata transmission requirement is higher than or equal to a presetpriority, or when a data capacity of the data transmission requirementis greater than or equal to a preset capacity, or when a data packetlength of the data transmission requirement is less than a preset packetlength, or when a data rate of the data transmission requirement isgreater than a preset rate, transmit data in the scheduling frequencyband manner.

With reference to the fifth aspect or with reference to the first orsecond possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a thirdpossible implementation manner, the scheduling transmission unit isspecifically configured to send, to a station (STA) associated with theaccess point, data directly by using the allocated contention frequencyband without listening on a channel; or instruct a station (STA)associated with the access point to switch from a contention access modeto a scheduling access mode, so that the station (STA) associated withthe access point sends data to the access point directly by using theallocated contention frequency band without listening on a channel.

With reference to the fifth aspect or with reference to the first,second, or third possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, ina fourth possible implementation manner, the interference information isacquired by the access point by listening on the channel and is reportedto the first scheduling server; or the interference information isobtained, through calculation, by the first scheduling server accordingto location information of the access point and signal receiving andtransmitting statuses of another access point that is a preset distancefrom the access point; and the interference information includes aninterference source, an interference frequency band range, andinterference intensity.

With reference to the fifth aspect or with reference to the first,second, third, or fourth possible implementation manner of the fifthaspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, if a management areaof the first scheduling server and a management area of a secondscheduling server have an overlapping area, and the access point islocated in the overlapping area, after the sending unit sends thescheduling request to the first scheduling server, the receiving unit isfurther configured to receive a decision result returned by a decisionserver or receive a decision result forwarded by the first schedulingserver, and the scheduling transmission unit is further configured toperform scheduling transmission according to an allocated contentionfrequency band in the decision result, where a management area of eachscheduling server is determined according to a spectrum listcorresponding to each scheduling server, and the decision result isfurther used to inform the second scheduling server of the contentionfrequency band allocated by the decision server to the access point; orafter the sending unit sends the scheduling request to the firstscheduling server, the receiving unit is further configured to receive acontention frequency band that is allocated by the first schedulingserver to the access point according to a frequency band range allocatedin advance by a decision server, and instruct the schedulingtransmission unit to perform scheduling transmission.

With reference to the fifth possible implementation manner of the fifthaspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner, the allocatedcontention frequency band in the decision result is determined by thedecision server in at least one of the following manners: allocatingdifferent frequency bands to different access points; and allocatingdifferent time ranges for using a same frequency band to differentaccess points.

With reference to the fifth aspect or with reference to the first,second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth possible implementation manner ofthe fifth aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner, theaccess point further includes: a monitoring unit, configured to: ifanother access point that is not connected to the first schedulingserver is detected in coverage of the access point, report locationinformation, coverage information, and information about an occupiedcontention frequency band that are of the detected another access pointto the first scheduling server, so that the first scheduling serverupdates the spectrum list and performs contention frequency bandscheduling according to an updated spectrum list.

With reference to the fifth aspect or with reference to the first,second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh possible implementationmanner of the fifth aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner,the sending unit is further configured to broadcast, to a basic serviceset associated with the access point, a scheduling channel being usedand a scheduling frequency band in which the scheduling channel islocated, so that a station (STA) that is in the basic service set andthat does not use the scheduling channel or that does not use thescheduling frequency band in which the scheduling channel is locatedapplies to use the scheduling channel and the scheduling frequency bandin which the scheduling channel is located.

With reference to the fifth aspect or with reference to the first,second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth possibleimplementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a ninth possibleimplementation manner, the receiving unit is further configured toreceive scheduling termination information sent by the first schedulingserver, and instruct the scheduling transmission unit to stop using acontention frequency band indicated in the scheduling terminationinformation for scheduling transmission; or when duration in which theaccess point performs scheduling transmission by using the contentionfrequency band allocated by the first scheduling server reaches durationdefined in the frequency band use time information of the contentionfrequency band that is applied for, the scheduling transmission unit isfurther configured to stop using the contention frequency band allocatedby the first scheduling server for scheduling transmission.

With reference to the fifth aspect or with reference to the first,second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, or ninth possibleimplementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a tenth possibleimplementation manner, the scheduling request further includes:frequency band range information of the contention frequency band thatis applied for.

A sixth aspect of the embodiments provides an access point. The accesspoint includes a receiving unit, configured to receive a contentionfrequency band that is allocated by a first scheduling server to theaccess point within first preset duration according to a schedulingindication table and a spectrum list, where the scheduling indicationtable includes capability indication information about whether theaccess point supports scheduling transmission and information about ascheduling bandwidth supported by the access point, and the spectrumlist includes frequency band use information and interferenceinformation of the access point. The access point also includes ascheduling transmission unit, configured to perform schedulingtransmission by using the contention frequency band allocated by thefirst scheduling server.

In a first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, thescheduling transmission unit is further configured to send, to a station(STA) associated with the access point, data directly by using theallocated contention frequency band in scheduling indication informationwithout listening on a channel; or instruct a station (STA) associatedwith the access point to switch from a contention access mode to ascheduling access mode, so that the station (STA) associated with theaccess point sends data to the access point directly by using theallocated contention frequency band in scheduling indication informationwithout listening on a channel.

With reference to the sixth aspect or with reference to the firstpossible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a second possibleimplementation manner, the interference information is acquired by theaccess point by listening on the channel and is reported to the firstscheduling server; or the interference information is obtained, throughcalculation, by the first scheduling server according to locationinformation of the access point and signal receiving and transmittingstatuses of another access point that is a preset distance from theaccess point; and the interference information includes an interferencesource, an interference frequency band range, and interferenceintensity.

With reference to the sixth aspect or with reference to the first orsecond possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a thirdpossible implementation manner, if a management area of the firstscheduling server and a management area of a second scheduling serverhave an overlapping area, and the access point is located in theoverlapping area, the contention frequency band allocated by the firstscheduling server to the access point is in a frequency band range thatis allocated in advance by a decision server.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the sixthaspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the frequency bandrange allocated in advance is determined by the decision server in atleast one of the following manners: allocating different frequency bandsto different access points; and allocating different time ranges forusing a same frequency band to different access points.

In a fifth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, theaccess point further includes: a sending unit, configured to send ascheduling request to the first scheduling server according to a datatransmission requirement, where the scheduling request includesfrequency band bandwidth information of a contention frequency band thatis applied for and frequency band use time information of the contentionfrequency band that is applied for, where the receiving unit is furtherconfigured to receive, within second preset duration, a contentionfrequency band that is allocated by the first scheduling server to theaccess point according to the spectrum list and the scheduling request,where the second preset duration is less than the first preset duration;and if the contention frequency band that is allocated by the firstscheduling server to the access point according to the schedulingindication table and the spectrum list has been taken back by the firstscheduling server, the scheduling transmission unit is furtherconfigured to perform scheduling transmission by using the contentionfrequency band that is allocated by the first scheduling server to theaccess point according to the spectrum list and the scheduling request;or if the contention frequency band that is allocated by the firstscheduling server to the access point according to the schedulingindication table and the spectrum list is not taken back by the firstscheduling server, the scheduling transmission unit is furtherconfigured to perform scheduling transmission by using the contentionfrequency band that is allocated by the first scheduling serveraccording to the scheduling indication table and the spectrum list andthe contention frequency band that is allocated by the first schedulingserver to the access point according to the spectrum list and thescheduling request.

A seventh aspect of the embodiments provides an access point. The accesspoint includes a processor and a memory cooperating with the processor,where the memory is configured to store a set of program code, and theprocessor is configured to invoke the program code stored in the memory,and execute the method according to the first aspect of the presentinvention or any implementation manner of the first aspect, or thesecond aspect or any implementation manner of the second aspect.

An eighth aspect of the embodiments provides a scheduling server. Theserver includes a receiving unit, configured to receive a schedulingrequest that is sent by the access point according to a datatransmission requirement, where the scheduling request includesfrequency band bandwidth information of a contention frequency band thatis applied for and frequency band use time information of the contentionfrequency band that is applied for. The server also includes ascheduling unit, configured to allocate a contention frequency band tothe access point according to a spectrum list and the schedulingrequest, where the spectrum list includes at least frequency band useinformation and interference information of the access point. The serveralso includes a sending unit, configured to send a contention frequencyband allocation result to the access point, so that the access pointperforms scheduling transmission by using the allocated contentionfrequency band.

In a first possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, thescheduling request is initiated when the access point determines,according to the data transmission requirement, that data needs to betransmitted in a scheduling frequency band manner, which specificallyincludes: the scheduling request is initiated by the access point when aservice priority of the data transmission requirement is higher than orequal to a preset priority, or when a data capacity of the datatransmission requirement is greater than or equal to a preset capacity,or when a data packet length of the data transmission requirement isless than a preset packet length, or when a data rate of the datatransmission requirement is greater than a preset rate.

With reference to the eighth aspect or with reference to the firstpossible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in a secondpossible implementation manner, the interference information is acquiredby the access point by listening on the channel and is reported to thescheduling server; or the interference information is obtained, throughcalculation, by the scheduling server according to location informationof the access point and signal receiving and transmitting statuses ofanother access point that is a preset distance from the access point;and the interference information includes an interference source, aninterference frequency band range, and interference intensity.

With reference to the eighth aspect or with reference to the first orsecond possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in a thirdpossible implementation manner, the scheduling server further includes:an updating unit, configured to update the spectrum list after thecontention frequency band allocation result is sent to the access point,and record the allocated contention frequency band and an allocated usetime thereof.

With reference to the eighth aspect or with reference to the first,second, or third possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, ina fourth possible implementation manner, if a management area of thescheduling server and a management area of another scheduling serverhave an overlapping area, and the access point is located in theoverlapping area, after the receiving unit receives the schedulingrequest sent by the access point, the sending unit is further configuredto send the scheduling request to a decision server, receive a decisionresult that is returned by the decision server after the decision servermakes a decision, and forward the decision result to the access point,so that the access point performs scheduling transmission according toan allocated contention frequency band in the decision result, where amanagement area of each scheduling server is determined according to aspectrum list corresponding to each scheduling server, and the decisionresult is further used to inform the another scheduling server of thecontention frequency band allocated by the decision server to the accesspoint; or the scheduling unit is further configured to allocate acontention frequency band to the access point according to a frequencyband range that is allocated in advance by a decision server.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of theeighth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, the allocatedcontention frequency band in the decision result is determined by thedecision server in at least one of the following manners: allocatingdifferent frequency bands to different access points; and allocatingdifferent time ranges for using a same frequency band to differentaccess points.

With reference to the third, fourth, or fifth possible implementationmanner of the eighth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner,if the access point detects, in coverage thereof, another access pointthat is not connected to the scheduling server, the receiving unit isfurther configured to receive location information, coverageinformation, and information about an occupied contention frequency bandof the another access point that are reported by the access point; andthe updating unit is further configured to update the spectrum list andinstruct the scheduling unit to perform contention frequency bandscheduling according to an updated spectrum list.

With reference to the third, fourth, fifth, or sixth possibleimplementation manner of the eighth aspect, in a seventh possibleimplementation manner, the sending unit is further configured to sendscheduling termination information to the access point, to instruct theaccess point to stop using a contention frequency band indicated in thescheduling termination information for scheduling transmission; or whenduration in which the access point performs scheduling transmission byusing the contention frequency band allocated by the scheduling serverreaches duration defined in the frequency band use time information ofthe contention frequency band that is applied for, the scheduling unitis further configured to take back the allocated contention frequencyband and instruct the updating unit to update the spectrum list.

With reference to the eighth aspect or with reference to the first,second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh possible implementationmanner of the eighth aspect, in an eighth possible implementationmanner, the scheduling request further includes: frequency band rangeinformation of the contention frequency band that is applied for.

A ninth aspect of the embodiments provides a scheduling server. Theserver includes a scheduling unit, configured to allocate a contentionfrequency band to an access point within first preset duration accordingto a scheduling indication table and a spectrum list, where thescheduling indication table includes capability indication informationabout whether the access point supports scheduling transmission andinformation about a scheduling bandwidth supported by the access point,and the spectrum list includes frequency band use information andinterference information of the access point. The server also includes asending unit, configured to send a contention frequency band allocationresult to the access point, so that the access point performs schedulingtransmission by using the allocated contention frequency band.

In a first possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, theinterference information is acquired by the access point by listening onthe channel and is reported to the scheduling server; or theinterference information is obtained, through calculation, by thescheduling server according to location information of the access pointand signal receiving and transmitting statuses of another access pointthat is a preset distance from the access point; and the interferenceinformation includes an interference source, an interference frequencyband range, and interference intensity.

With reference to the ninth aspect or with reference to the firstpossible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, in a second possibleimplementation manner, if a management area of the scheduling server anda management area of another scheduling server have an overlapping area,and the access point is located in the overlapping area, the contentionfrequency band allocated by the scheduling unit to the access point isin a frequency band range that is allocated in advance by a decisionserver.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the ninthaspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the frequency bandrange allocated in advance is determined by the decision server in atleast one of the following manners: allocating different frequency bandsto different access points; and allocating different time ranges forusing a same frequency band to different access points.

With reference to the ninth aspect or with reference to the first,second, or third possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, ina fourth possible implementation manner, the scheduling server furtherincludes: a receiving unit, configured to receive a scheduling requestthat is sent by the access point according to a data transmissionrequirement, where the scheduling request includes frequency bandbandwidth information of a contention frequency band that is applied forand frequency band use time information of the contention frequency bandthat is applied for, where the scheduling unit is further configured toallocate, within second preset duration, a contention frequency band tothe access point according to the spectrum list and the schedulingrequest, where the second preset duration is less than the first presetduration; and if the contention frequency band that is allocated by thescheduling unit to the access point according to the schedulingindication table and the spectrum list has been taken back, instruct theaccess point to perform scheduling transmission by using the contentionfrequency band that is allocated by the scheduling unit to the accesspoint according to the spectrum list and the scheduling request; or ifthe contention frequency band that is allocated by the scheduling unitto the access point according to the scheduling indication table and thespectrum list is not taken back, instruct the access point to performscheduling transmission by using the contention frequency band that isallocated by the scheduling unit to the access point according to thescheduling indication table and the spectrum list and the contentionfrequency band that is allocated by the scheduling unit to the accesspoint according to the spectrum list and the scheduling request.

A tenth aspect of the embodiments provides a scheduling server. Theserver includes a processor and a memory cooperating with the processor,where the memory is configured to store a set of program code, and theprocessor is configured to invoke the program code stored in the memory,and execute the method according to the third aspect or anyimplementation manner of the third aspect, or the fourth aspect or anyimplementation manner of the fourth aspect.

An eleventh aspect of the embodiments provides a scheduling system. Thesystem includes at least one access point according to the fifth aspector any implementation manner of the fifth aspect and at least onescheduling server according to the eighth aspect or any implementationmanner of the eight aspect; or at least one access point according tothe sixth aspect or any implementation manner of the sixth aspect and atleast one scheduling server according to the ninth aspect or anyimplementation manner of the ninth aspect.

Implementing the embodiments of the present invention has the followingbeneficial effects: In a scenario in which a frequency band is sharedand contention is allowed, by initiating a scheduling request to ascheduling server, an access point may apply for a public contentionfrequency band for scheduling transmission; the scheduling server thenallocates a suitable contention frequency band to the access pointaccording to actual usage of a contention frequency band resource andthe scheduling request of the access point, thereby implementingaddition of scheduling access to a contention access system. Therefore,scheduling access and contention access can coexist, and efficiency andcompatibility of a wireless communications system are improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the presentinvention more clearly, the following briefly introduces theaccompanying drawings required for describing the embodiments.Apparently, the accompanying drawings in the following description showmerely some embodiments of the present invention, and a person ofordinary skill in the art may still derive other drawings from theseaccompanying drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of a schedulingmethod;

FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a first embodiment of a schedulingmethod;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a second embodiment of a schedulingmethod;

FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a third embodiment of a schedulingmethod;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a fourth embodiment of a schedulingmethod;

FIG. 6 is a schematic composition diagram of a first embodiment of anaccess point;

FIG. 7 is a schematic composition diagram of a second embodiment of anaccess point;

FIG. 8 is a schematic composition diagram of a third embodiment of anaccess point;

[oo8o] FIG. 9 is a schematic composition diagram of a first embodimentof a scheduling server;

FIG. 10 is a schematic composition diagram of a second embodiment of ascheduling server;

FIG. 11 is a schematic composition diagram of a third embodiment of ascheduling server;

FIG. 12 is a schematic composition diagram of a first embodiment of ascheduling system; and

FIG. 13 is a schematic composition diagram of a second embodiment of ascheduling system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The following clearly describes the technical solutions in theembodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Apparently, thedescribed embodiments are merely some but not all of the embodiments ofthe present invention. All other embodiments obtained by a person ofordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the presentinvention without creative efforts shall fall within the protectionscope of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an applicationscenario of a scheduling method. A first access point 21 and a secondaccess point 22 are connected to a same scheduling server 10. At thebeginning, both the first access point 21 and the second access point 22contend, by means of contention access, for a frequency band to use. Thecontention access refers to that a transmit end first selects a channeland listens on the channel, and sends data to a receive end if thetransmit end confirms that the channel is idle; and if sending of thedata fails, the transmit end needs to give up sending data on thechannel again. In such a case, the transmit end may listen on thechannel again, or may no longer use the channel. Therefore, whenmultiple access points contend for channel accessing, a large quantityof collisions and delays are inevitable during a contention process.Especially when a quantity of access points or user terminals increases,such a situation is more serious, leading to relatively low channelutilization and relatively heavy system load. Data transmissionrequirements of the first access point 21 and the second access point 22may be different, for example, service priorities, data capacities, datapacket lengths, data rates, and the like may all be different in somedegree; in this case, if a same channel access manner is still used toperform processing for the two access points, different datatransmission requirements of different access points cannot be fullysatisfied. Therefore, in embodiments, scheduling access is added to acontention access scenario, thereby achieving an effect of coexistenceof scheduling access and contention access. A specific implementationmanner is as follows.

Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a firstembodiment of a scheduling method. In this embodiment, the methodincludes the following steps.

S201: An access point sends a scheduling request to a first schedulingserver according to a data transmission requirement.

Specifically, the access point needs to determine, according to the datatransmission requirement, whether data is transmitted in a contentionfrequency band manner or a scheduling frequency band manner, and if datais transmitted in the scheduling frequency band manner, the access pointsends the scheduling request to the first scheduling server.

When a service priority of the data transmission requirement is lowerthan a preset priority, or when a data capacity of the data transmissionrequirement is less than a preset capacity, or when a data packet lengthof the data transmission requirement is greater than a preset packetlength, or when a data rate of the data transmission requirement is lessthan a preset rate, data is transmitted in the contention frequency bandmanner.

When a service priority of the data transmission requirement is higherthan or equal to a preset priority, or when a data capacity of the datatransmission requirement is greater than or equal to a preset capacity,or when a data packet length of the data transmission requirement isless than a preset packet length, or when a data rate of the datatransmission requirement is greater than a preset rate, data istransmitted in the scheduling frequency band manner.

Specifically, the scheduling request may include, but is not limited to,frequency band bandwidth information of a contention frequency band thatis applied for and frequency band use time information of the contentionfrequency band that is applied for. By means of adding, to thescheduling request, the frequency band bandwidth information of thecontention frequency band that is applied for, a frequency bandbandwidth of the contention frequency band that the access point intendsto apply for may be indicated; for example, it is possible that theaccess point intends to apply for a frequency band having a bandwidth of20 MHz, 40 MHz, or the like. By means of adding, to the schedulingrequest, the frequency band use time information of the contentionfrequency band that is applied for, use duration within which the accesspoint intends to use the contention frequency band that is applied formay be indicated; for example, it is possible that the access pointintends to apply to use the contention frequency band for duration suchas 20 ms or wo ms.

More preferably, the scheduling request may further include: frequencyband range information of the contention frequency band that is appliedfor, so that the access point specifies a frequency band range of thecontention frequency band that is applied for, where by means of adding,to the scheduling request, the frequency band range information of thecontention frequency band that is applied for, a specific range of thecontention frequency band that the access point intends to apply for maybe indicated; for example, it is possible that the access point intendsto apply to use a frequency band in a specific frequency band range suchas 5350 MHz to 5390 MHz or 5150 MHz to 5170 MHz.

It should be noted that, multiple STAs may be connected to one accesspoint; the access point and the multiple STAs connected thereto may forma basic service set (BSS for short). Certainly, the BSS may also excludethe access point, but include only the multiple STAs connected to theaccess point. The scheduling request may be proactively initiated by theaccess point, or a STA may send a scheduling requirement message to theaccess point, to trigger the access point to send the scheduling requestto the first scheduling server. When initiating the scheduling requestand specifying the frequency band range for scheduling of the contentionfrequency band that is applied for, the access point may specify partialfrequency band of an operating contention frequency band of the BSS.This part of contention frequency band may operate in a contentionaccess mode, or is allocated to a new STA that just join the BSS andthat has not started to use this part of contention frequency band.Therefore, this part of contention frequency band may be specified forinitiation of the scheduling request, and certainly, a new contentionfrequency band not overlapping the operating contention frequency bandof the BSS may also be specified for application.

Corresponding to an existing dedicated scheduling frequency band, inthis embodiment of the present invention, the contention frequency bandfor scheduling is a public frequency band that may be shared by multipleaccess points or station (STA)s or servers, and is generally a freefrequency band; usually, access contention is required to use thecontention frequency band.

The first scheduling server may be connected to multiple access points,and each access point may be further connected to multiple station STAs.If an access point supports frequency band scheduling, the access pointmay send a scheduling request to the first scheduling server when dataneeds to be transmitted, to apply for a public contention frequency bandfor scheduling transmission.

S202: The access point receives a contention frequency band that isallocated by the first scheduling server to the access point accordingto a spectrum list and the scheduling request.

The spectrum list includes at least frequency band use information andinterference information of the access point.

Preferably, the spectrum list may further include identificationinformation of another access point that is connected to the firstscheduling server, interference information, and information about acontention frequency band and a scheduling frequency band that are beingused by the another access point. The interference information may beacquired by the access point by listening on the channel and be reportedto the first scheduling server; or the interference information may beobtained, through calculation, by the first scheduling server accordingto location information of the access point and signal receiving andtransmitting statuses of another access point that is a preset distancefrom the access point. The interference information may include, but isnot limited to, an interference source, an interference frequency bandrange, and interference intensity.

Preferably, the contention frequency band allocated by the firstscheduling server to the access point is a contention frequency bandthat is determined by the first scheduling server, satisfies thescheduling request, is outside the interference frequency band range,and has interference intensity lower than a preset threshold.

Specifically, information about frequency bands that are being used byaccess points connected to the first scheduling server includesinformation about frequency bands, for contention access, being used bythe access points connected to the first scheduling server, and furtherincludes information about frequency bands, for scheduling access, beingused by the access points connected to the first scheduling server.During contention frequency band scheduling, if the access pointspecifies only a frequency band bandwidth and a frequency band use timeof the contention frequency band that is intended to apply for, but doesnot specify the frequency band range of the contention frequency bandthat is applied for, the first scheduling server may allocate, accordingto the spectrum list and with reference to the frequency band bandwidthinformation and the frequency band use time information that are carriedin the scheduling request, a suitable contention frequency band to theaccess point for use. If the access point further specifies thefrequency band range of the contention frequency band that is appliedfor, with reference to the spectrum list and the scheduling request, acontention frequency band that is required in the scheduling request ofthe access point may be selected preferentially for allocation.Certainly, if this cannot be satisfied due to an actual condition,allocation may also be performed according to the spectrum list.

Preferably, the spectrum list may further include: location informationand coverage information of the access points connected to the firstscheduling server. For example, a location of the first access point is(0, 0), and coverage thereof is 100 m; a location of the second accesspoint is (0, 1), and coverage thereof is also 100 m. The second accesspoint is an interference source of the first access point, where aninterference frequency band range is from 5150 MHz to 5170 MHz, andintensity of interference of the second access point in a receivedsignal of the first access point is −68 dBm. In this case, when acontention frequency band is scheduled for the first access point, withreference to the interference of the second access point, a contentionfrequency band that is out of the interference frequency band range andthat has relatively low interference intensity may be allocated to thefirst access point preferentially, for example, a frequency band, whichis in a range from 5350 MHz to 5390 MHz and of which interferenceintensity is −3 dBm, may be allocated to the first access point for use,so as to reduce interference and improve efficiency and accuracy ofscheduling transmission. After one time of contention frequency bandscheduling is completed, the first scheduling server needs to update thespectrum list, and record an allocated contention frequency band and anallocated use time thereof, so as to provide reference for nextallocation and take back the allocated contention frequency band whenthe allocated use time expires.

Generally, if at least one of the frequency band use information,interference information, location information, and coverage informationof the access point changes, the access point sends changed informationto the first scheduling server, so that the first scheduling serverupdates the spectrum list.

S203: The access point performs scheduling transmission by using theallocated contention frequency band.

Specifically, after obtaining, by means of application, the contentionfrequency band that is allocated during contention frequency bandscheduling, the access point may provide, to the STA for use accordingto a transmission requirement of a STA in a BSS, the contentionfrequency band that is allocated during contention frequency bandscheduling, thereby implementing scheduling transmission and improvingefficiency of a wireless communications system.

Specifically, the performing, by the access point, schedulingtransmission by using the allocated contention frequency band mayinclude: sending, by the access point to a station (STA) associated withthe access point, data directly by using the allocated contentionfrequency band without listening on a channel; or instructing, by theaccess point, a station (STA) associated with the access point to switchfrom a contention access mode to a scheduling access mode, so that thestation (STA) associated with the access point sends data to the accesspoint directly by using the allocated contention frequency band withoutlistening on a channel.

After obtaining the contention frequency band that is applied for, theaccess point may broadcast, to a basic service set associated with theaccess point, a scheduling channel being used and a scheduling frequencyband in which the scheduling channel is located, so that a station (STA)that is in the basic service set and that does not use the schedulingchannel or that does not use the scheduling frequency band in which thescheduling channel is located applies to use the scheduling channel andthe scheduling frequency band in which the scheduling channel islocated.

The station (STA) that is in the basic service set and that does not usethe scheduling channel or that does not use the scheduling frequencyband in which the scheduling channel is located may include: a station(STA) newly added to the basic service set, or a station (STA) that hasbeen added to the basic service set but does not use the schedulingchannel or the scheduling frequency band in which the scheduling channelis located.

In a possible scenario, with continuous development of the wirelesscommunications system, network construction becomes increasinglycomplex, and quantities of scheduling servers, access points, andstation (STA)s are ever increasing. As a result, a situation in whichspectrum lists of two scheduling servers have an overlapping coveragearea occurs inevitably. In this case, if the access point is located inthe overlapping coverage area, when the access point sends a schedulingrequest to the first scheduling server, a decision server needs to beadded to the wireless communications system, where the decision servermay obtain the overlapping coverage area of the two scheduling serversby collecting statistics according to spectrum lists on the firstscheduling server and a second scheduling server that are connected tothe decision server, and then perform frequency band scheduling aftermaking a decision on the scheduling request, which may specificallyinclude: if a management area of the first scheduling server and amanagement area of the second scheduling server have an overlappingarea, and the access point is located in the overlapping area, aftersending the scheduling request to the first scheduling server,receiving, by the access point, a decision result returned by thedecision server or receiving a decision result forwarded by the firstscheduling server, and performing scheduling transmission according toan allocated contention frequency band in the decision result, where amanagement area of each scheduling server is determined according to aspectrum list corresponding to each scheduling server, and the decisionresult is further used to inform the second scheduling server of thecontention frequency band allocated by the decision server to the accesspoint; or after sending the scheduling request to the first schedulingserver, receiving, by the access point, a contention frequency band thatis allocated by the first scheduling server to the access pointaccording to a frequency band range allocated in advance by the decisionserver, and performing scheduling transmission.

The allocated contention frequency band in the decision result isdetermined by the decision server in at least one of the followingmanners: allocating different frequency bands to different accesspoints; and allocating different time ranges for using a same frequencyband to different access points.

Certainly, a scheduling criterion of the decision server may also beenabling frequency bands that are used by neighboring access pointsbelonging to different scheduling servers to coexist in a more advancedmanner, for example, flexible soft frequency reuse, interferencecoordination, or interference alignment.

After the decision server is added, when multiple scheduling servershave an overlapping coverage area geographically, a problem of conflictthat occurs when an access point in the overlapping coverage arearequests a contention frequency band can be resolved.

In another possible scenario, if the access point detects, in coveragethereof, another access point that is not connected to the firstscheduling server, the access point reports location information,coverage information, and information about an occupied contentionfrequency band that are of the detected another access point to thefirst scheduling server, so that the first scheduling server updates thespectrum list and performs contention frequency band schedulingaccording to an updated spectrum list.

The another access point may be a conventional access point that doesnot support scheduling transmission, but it can contend for access andoccupy a frequency band; or the another access point may be an accesspoint that supports scheduling transmission but that is connected toanother scheduling server. However, because the another access point islocated in the coverage of the access point that is connected to thefirst scheduling server, an occupied contention frequency band hasimpact on scheduling transmission performed by the access point, and mayfurther interfere the access point. Therefore, if the access pointdetects another access point like this, the access point needs to reportinformation about the another access point to the first schedulingserver, to add the information to the spectrum list of the firstscheduling server, thereby being compatible with the another accesspoint and a BSS or STA connected to the another access point. In thisway, impact on application by the access point to use a contentionfrequency band as a scheduling frequency band can be reduced, andcompatibility with another conventional access point that does notsupport scheduling transmission and that is connected to anotherscheduling server is also achieved.

When the allocated contention frequency band needs to be stopped beingused for scheduling transmission, the method may include: receiving, bythe access point, scheduling termination information sent by the firstscheduling server, and stopping using a contention frequency bandindicated in the scheduling termination information for schedulingtransmission.

Specifically, the first scheduling server may send, according to statesof using scheduled contention frequency bands by all access pointsconnected to the first scheduling server and different degrees ofrequirements on contention frequency band scheduling of all the accesspoints, the scheduling termination information to an access point ofwhich scheduling transmission is complete but a use time of thecontention frequency band that is applied for does not expire or arequirement on contention frequency band scheduling is relatively low.After receiving the scheduling termination information sent by the firstscheduling server, the access point stops using the contention frequencyband indicated in the scheduling termination information for schedulingtransmission, so that the first scheduling server takes back a frequencyband resource and updates the spectrum list, thereby improvingutilization of the frequency band resource. Certainly, in this case, theaccess point can no longer perform scheduling transmission on thecontention frequency band, but can still choose to continue to use thecontention frequency band according to a contention access mode;moreover, the access point needs to notify usage of the contentionfrequency band to the first scheduling server.

Certainly, when duration in which the access point performs schedulingtransmission by using the contention frequency band allocated by thefirst scheduling server reaches duration defined in the frequency banduse time information of the contention frequency band that is appliedfor, the access point may also stop using the contention frequency bandallocated by the first scheduling server for scheduling transmission. Inaddition to that the first scheduling server performs centralizedmanagement and delivers the scheduling termination information, when thefrequency band use time of the contention frequency band that is appliedfor expires, the access point may also automatically stop using thecontention frequency band, of which the frequency band use time expires,for scheduling transmission. Then, the first scheduling server takesback the frequency band resource and updates the spectrum list.Certainly, in this case, the access point can no longer performscheduling transmission on the contention frequency band, but can stillchoose to continue to use the contention frequency band according to acontention access mode; moreover, the access point needs to notify usageof the contention frequency band to the first scheduling server.

That is, in addition to that the first scheduling server performscentralized management and delivers the scheduling terminationinformation, when the frequency band use time of the contentionfrequency band that is applied for expires, the access point may alsoautomatically stop using the contention frequency band, of which thefrequency band use time expires, for scheduling transmission. Then, thefirst scheduling server takes back the frequency band resource andupdates the spectrum list. Certainly, in this case, the access point canno longer perform scheduling transmission on the contention frequencyband, but can still choose to continue to use the contention frequencyband according to a contention access mode; moreover, the access pointneeds to notify usage of the contention frequency band to the firstscheduling server.

The two manners of terminating contention frequency band scheduling inthe foregoing may be properly selected according to specific usage of acontention frequency band, so as to improve system applicability.

It should be noted that, before the access point initiates thescheduling request, the method may further include: receiving, by theaccess point, a scheduling requirement message of a station (STA) thatis connected to the access point.

The station (STA) that is connected to the access point sends thescheduling requirement message to the access point, thereby triggeringcontention frequency band scheduling.

In this embodiment, in a scenario in which a frequency band is sharedand contention is allowed, by initiating a scheduling request to ascheduling server, an access point may apply for a public contentionfrequency band for scheduling transmission; the scheduling server thenallocates a suitable contention frequency band to the access pointaccording to actual usage of a contention frequency band resource andthe scheduling request of the access point, thereby implementingaddition of scheduling access to a contention access system. Therefore,scheduling access and contention access can coexist, and the efficiencyand compatibility of a wireless communications system are improved.

Referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a secondembodiment of a scheduling method. In this embodiment, the methodincludes the following steps.

S301: An access point receives a contention frequency band that isallocated by a first scheduling server to the access point within firstpreset duration according to a scheduling indication table and aspectrum list.

The scheduling indication table includes capability indicationinformation about whether the access point supports schedulingtransmission and information about a scheduling bandwidth supported bythe access point, and the spectrum list includes frequency band useinformation and interference information of the access point.

Capability indication information of each access point may help thefirst scheduling server know whether the access point supportsscheduling transmission, and scheduling bandwidth information of eachaccess point may help the first scheduling server know a maximumfrequency band bandwidth for scheduling supported by the access point.With reference to the spectrum list, the first scheduling server canproactively schedule a contention frequency band for each access point.

Certainly, a bandwidth of the contention frequency band scheduled by thefirst scheduling server for each access point is less than or equal to ascheduling bandwidth supported by the access point.

Preferably, the interference information may be acquired by the accesspoint by listening on the channel and be reported to the firstscheduling server; or the interference information may also be obtained,through calculation, by the first scheduling server according tolocation information of the access point and signal receiving andtransmitting statuses of another access point that is a preset distancefrom the access point; and the interference information may include, butis not limited to, an interference source, an interference frequencyband range, and interference intensity.

By means of allocation according to preset duration, periodic contentionfrequency band scheduling can be implemented, and a scheduling periodmay be set according to a specific status of a service borne by eachaccess point.

S302: The access point performs scheduling transmission by using thecontention frequency band allocated by the first scheduling server.

After receiving the allocated contention frequency band, the accesspoint may provide, according to a transmission requirement of a STA in aBSS, the allocated contention frequency band for the STA to use, therebyimplementing scheduling transmission, and improving efficiency of awireless communications system.

Specifically, the performing, by the access point, schedulingtransmission by using the contention frequency band allocated by thefirst scheduling server may include: sending, by the access point to astation (STA) associated with the access point, data directly by usingthe allocated contention frequency band in scheduling indicationinformation without listening on a channel; or instructing, by theaccess point, a station (STA) associated with the access point to switchfrom a contention access mode to a scheduling access mode, so that thestation (STA) associated with the access point sends data to the accesspoint directly by using the allocated contention frequency band inscheduling indication information without listening on a channel.

Preferably, the scheduling indication table may further include:location information of station (STA)s that are connected to accesspoints and that support scheduling transmission, and information aboutscheduling bandwidths supported by the station (STA)s that are connectedto the access points and that support scheduling transmission, where aSTA may proactively send information to a corresponding access point toreport location information and scheduling bandwidth information of thestation (STA), and then the access point sends the location informationand scheduling bandwidth information to the first scheduling server; orthe access point may collect information of the STA in real time orperiodically, and then send the information to the first schedulingserver.

In a possible scenario, if a management area of the first schedulingserver and a management area of a second scheduling server have anoverlapping area, and the access point is located in the overlappingarea, the contention frequency band allocated by the first schedulingserver to the access point is in a frequency band range that isallocated in advance by a decision server.

The frequency band range allocated in advance is determined by thedecision server in at least one of the following manners: allocatingdifferent frequency bands to different access points; and allocatingdifferent time ranges for using a same frequency band to differentaccess points.

To sum up, the access point receives a contention frequency band that isproactively allocated by the first scheduling server, and performsscheduling transmission by using the allocated contention frequencyband. In this way, the first scheduling server can perform globalallocation according to frequency band resources, thereby schedulingcontention frequency bands more properly and globally.

In another possible scenario, reference may be made to the firstembodiment and the second embodiment of the scheduling method.Specifically, after receiving the contention frequency band that isallocated by the first scheduling server to the access point within thefirst preset duration according to the scheduling indication table andthe spectrum list, the access point may further proactively initiate ascheduling request within the first preset duration, which mayspecifically include: sending, by the access point, the schedulingrequest to the first scheduling server according to a data transmissionrequirement, where the scheduling request includes frequency bandbandwidth information of a contention frequency band that is applied forand frequency band use time information of the contention frequency bandthat is applied for; receiving, by the access point within second presetduration, a contention frequency band that is allocated by the firstscheduling server to the access point according to the spectrum list andthe scheduling request, where the second preset duration is less thanthe first preset duration; and if the contention frequency band that isallocated by the first scheduling server to the access point accordingto the scheduling indication table and the spectrum list has been takenback by the first scheduling server, performing, by the access point,scheduling transmission by using the contention frequency band that isallocated by the first scheduling server to the access point accordingto the spectrum list and the scheduling request; or if the contentionfrequency band that is allocated by the first scheduling server to theaccess point according to the scheduling indication table and thespectrum list is not taken back by the first scheduling server,performing, by the access point, scheduling transmission by using thecontention frequency band that is allocated by the first schedulingserver according to the scheduling indication table and the spectrumlist and the contention frequency band that is allocated by the firstscheduling server to the access point according to the spectrum list andthe scheduling request.

Certainly, after acquiring a new contention frequency band byproactively initiating a request, the access point may no longer use thescheduling frequency band that is initially allocated by the firstscheduling server, but use only the contention frequency band that isacquired by proactively initiating the request, to perform schedulingtransmission.

It can be known from the foregoing description that, a manner in whichthe first scheduling server schedules contention frequency bands and amanner in which the access point proactively initiates a schedulingrequest to apply for contention frequency band scheduling may coexist,or may exist independent of each other. When the two manners coexist,the access point may initiate a scheduling request at any moment. Forexample, the access point may immediately apply again when a use time ofa frequency band that is previously applied for expires, or apply againin a period after the first scheduling server allocates a contentionfrequency band. Therefore, the first preset duration within which thefirst scheduling server allocates a contention frequency band may be setto be relatively long. Generally, the first preset duration is longerthan the second preset duration. When the two manners coexist, that theaccess point proactively initiates a scheduling request may beconsidered as a resource requirement modification that is made based onperiodic allocation performed by the first scheduling server.

Referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a thirdembodiment of a scheduling method. In this embodiment, the methodincludes the following steps.

S401: A first scheduling server receives a scheduling request that issent by an access point according to a data transmission requirement.

Specifically, the first scheduling server may be connected to multipleaccess points, and each access point may be further connected tomultiple station STAs. If an access point supports frequency bandscheduling, the access point may send a scheduling request to the firstscheduling server when data needs to be transmitted, to apply for apublic contention frequency band for scheduling transmission.

Specifically, the scheduling request may include, but is not limited to,frequency band bandwidth information of a contention frequency band thatis applied for and frequency band use time information of the contentionfrequency band that is applied for. By means of adding, to thescheduling request, the frequency band bandwidth information of thecontention frequency band that is applied for, a frequency bandbandwidth of the contention frequency band that the access point intendsto apply for may be indicated; for example, it is possible that theaccess point intends to apply for a frequency band having a bandwidth of20 MHz, 40 MHz, or the like. By means of adding, to the schedulingrequest, the frequency band use time information of the contentionfrequency band that is applied for, use duration within which the accesspoint intends to use the contention frequency band that is applied formay be indicated; for example, it is possible that the access pointintends to apply to use the contention frequency band for duration suchas 20 ms or 100 ms.

More preferably, the scheduling request may further include: frequencyband range information of the contention frequency band that is appliedfor, so that the access point specifies a frequency band range of thecontention frequency band that is applied for, where by means of adding,to the scheduling request, the frequency band range information of thecontention frequency band that is applied for, a specific range of thecontention frequency band that the access point intends to apply for maybe indicated; for example, it is possible that the access point intendsto apply to use a frequency band in a specific frequency band range suchas 5350 MHz to 5390 MHz or 5150 MHz to 5170 MHz.

The scheduling request is initiated when the access point determines,according to the data transmission requirement, that data needs to betransmitted in a scheduling frequency band manner, which specificallyincludes: the scheduling request is initiated by the access point when aservice priority of the data transmission requirement is higher than orequal to a preset priority, or when a data capacity of the datatransmission requirement is greater than or equal to a preset capacity,or when a data packet length of the data transmission requirement isless than a preset packet length, or when a data rate of the datatransmission requirement is greater than a preset rate.

S402: The first scheduling server allocates a contention frequency bandto the access point according to a spectrum list and the schedulingrequest.

The spectrum list includes at least frequency band use information andinterference information of the access point.

Preferably, the spectrum list may further include identificationinformation of another access point that is connected to the firstscheduling server, interference information, and information about acontention frequency band and a scheduling frequency band that are beingused by the another access point. The interference information may beacquired by the access point by listening on the channel and be reportedto the first scheduling server; or the interference information may beobtained, through calculation, by the first scheduling server accordingto location information of the access point and signal receiving andtransmitting statuses of another access point that is a preset distancefrom the access point. The interference information may include, but isnot limited to, an interference source, an interference frequency bandrange, and interference intensity.

Preferably, the contention frequency band allocated by the firstscheduling server to the access point is a contention frequency bandthat is determined by the first scheduling server, satisfies thescheduling request, is outside the interference frequency band range,and has interference intensity lower than a preset threshold.

Specifically, information about frequency bands that are being used byaccess points connected to the first scheduling server includesinformation about frequency bands, for contention access, being used bythe access points connected to the first scheduling server, and furtherincludes information about frequency bands, for scheduling access, beingused by the access points connected to the first scheduling server.During contention frequency band scheduling, if the access pointspecifies only a frequency band bandwidth and a frequency band use timeof the contention frequency band that is intended to apply for, but doesnot specify the frequency band range of the contention frequency bandthat is applied for, the first scheduling server may allocate, accordingto the spectrum list and with reference to the frequency band bandwidthinformation and the frequency band use time information that are carriedin the scheduling request, a suitable contention frequency band to theaccess point for use. If the access point further specifies thefrequency band range of the contention frequency band that is appliedfor, with reference to the spectrum list and the scheduling request, acontention frequency band that is required in the scheduling request ofthe access point may be selected preferentially for allocation.Certainly, if this cannot be satisfied due to an actual condition,allocation may also be performed according to the spectrum list.

Preferably, the spectrum list may further include: location informationand coverage information of the access points connected to the firstscheduling server. For example, a location of the first access point is(0, 0), and coverage thereof is 100 m; a location of the second accesspoint is (0, 1), and coverage thereof is also 100 m. The second accesspoint is an interference source of the first access point, where aninterference frequency band range is from 5150 MHz to 5170 MHz, andintensity of interference of the second access point in a receivedsignal of the first access point is −68 dBm. In this case, when acontention frequency band is scheduled for the first access point, withreference to the interference of the second access point, a contentionfrequency band that is out of the interference frequency band range andthat has relatively low interference intensity may be allocated to thefirst access point preferentially, for example, a frequency band, whichis in a range from 5350 MHz to 5390 MHz and of which interferenceintensity is −3 dBm, may be allocated to the first access point for use,so as to reduce interference and improve efficiency and accuracy ofscheduling transmission. After one time of contention frequency bandscheduling is completed, the first scheduling server needs to update thespectrum list, and record an allocated contention frequency band and anallocated use time thereof, so as to provide reference for nextallocation and take back the allocated contention frequency band whenthe allocated use time expires.

S403: Send a contention frequency band allocation result to the accesspoint, so that the access point performs scheduling transmission byusing the allocated contention frequency band.

After the sending a contention frequency band allocation result to theaccess point, the method further includes: updating, by the firstscheduling server, the spectrum list, and recording the allocatedcontention frequency band and an allocated use time thereof.

In a possible scenario, if a management area of the first schedulingserver and a management area of a second scheduling server have anoverlapping area, and the access point is located in the overlappingarea, after the first scheduling server receives the scheduling requestsent by the access point, the first scheduling server sends thescheduling request to a decision server, receives a decision result thatis returned by the decision server after the decision server makes adecision, and forwards the decision result to the access point, so thatthe access point performs scheduling transmission according to anallocated contention frequency band in the decision result, where amanagement area of each scheduling server is determined according to aspectrum list corresponding to each scheduling server, and the decisionresult is further used to inform the second scheduling server of thecontention frequency band allocated by the decision server to the accesspoint; or the first scheduling server allocates a contention frequencyband to the access point according to a frequency band range that isallocated in advance by a decision server.

The allocated contention frequency band in the decision result isdetermined by the decision server in at least one of the followingmanners: allocating different frequency bands to different accesspoints; and allocating different time ranges for using a same frequencyband to different access points.

In another possible scenario, if the access point detects, in coveragethereof, another access point that is not connected to the firstscheduling server, the first scheduling server receives locationinformation, coverage information, and information about an occupiedcontention frequency band that are of the detected another access pointand that are reported by the access point; and the first schedulingserver updates the spectrum list and performs contention frequency bandscheduling according to an updated spectrum list.

When the allocated contention frequency band needs to be stopped beingused for scheduling transmission, the first scheduling server may sendscheduling termination information to the access point, to instruct theaccess point to stop using a contention frequency band indicated in thescheduling termination information for scheduling transmission; or whenduration in which the access point performs scheduling transmission byusing the contention frequency band allocated by the first schedulingserver reaches duration defined in the frequency band use timeinformation of the contention frequency band that is applied for, thefirst scheduling server takes back the allocated contention frequencyband and updates the spectrum list.

Referring to FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a fourthembodiment of a scheduling method. In this embodiment, the methodincludes the following steps.

S501: A first scheduling server allocates a contention frequency band toan access point within first preset duration according to a schedulingindication table and a spectrum list.

The scheduling indication table includes capability indicationinformation about whether the access point supports schedulingtransmission and information about a scheduling bandwidth supported bythe access point, and the spectrum list includes frequency band useinformation and interference information of the access point.

The interference information is acquired by the access point bylistening on the channel and is reported to the first scheduling server;or the interference information is obtained, through calculation, by thefirst scheduling server according to location information of the accesspoint and signal receiving and transmitting statuses of another accesspoint that is a preset distance from the access point; and theinterference information includes an interference source, aninterference frequency band range, and interference intensity.

Preferably, the scheduling indication table may further include:location information of station (STA)s that are connected to accesspoints and that support scheduling transmission, and information aboutscheduling bandwidths supported by the station (STA)s that are connectedto the access points and that support scheduling transmission, where aSTA may proactively send information to a corresponding access point toreport location information and scheduling bandwidth information of astation (STA), and then the access point sends the location informationand scheduling bandwidth information to the first scheduling server; orthe access point may collect information of the STA in real time orperiodically, and then send the information to the first schedulingserver.

By means of allocation according to preset duration, periodic contentionfrequency band scheduling can be implemented, and a scheduling periodmay be set according to a specific status of a service borne by eachaccess point.

S502: Send a contention frequency band allocation result to the accesspoint, so that the access point performs scheduling transmission byusing the allocated contention frequency band.

In a possible scenario, if a management area of the first schedulingserver and a management area of a second scheduling server have anoverlapping area, and the access point is located in the overlappingarea, the contention frequency band allocated by the first schedulingserver to the access point is in a frequency band range that isallocated in advance by a decision server.

The frequency band range allocated in advance is determined by thedecision server in at least one of the following manners: allocatingdifferent frequency bands to different access points; and allocatingdifferent time ranges for using a same frequency band to differentaccess points.

To sum up, the first scheduling server allocates a contention frequencyband to the access point, so that the access point performs schedulingtransmission by using the allocated contention frequency band. In thisway, the first scheduling server can perform global allocation accordingto frequency band resources, thereby scheduling contention frequencybands more properly and globally.

In another possible scenario, reference may be made to the fourthembodiment and the third embodiment of the scheduling method accordingto the present invention. Specifically, after the first schedulingserver allocates the contention frequency band to the access pointwithin the first preset duration according to the scheduling indicationtable and the spectrum list, the first scheduling server may furtherreceive a scheduling request that is sent by the access point accordingto a data transmission requirement, and allocate a contention frequencyband to the access point, which may specifically include: receiving, bythe first scheduling server, the scheduling request that is sent by theaccess point according to the data transmission requirement, where thescheduling request includes frequency band bandwidth information of acontention frequency band that is applied for and frequency band usetime information of the contention frequency band that is applied for;allocating, by the first scheduling server within second presetduration, the contention frequency band to the access point according tothe spectrum list and the scheduling request, where the second presetduration is less than the first preset duration; and if the contentionfrequency band that is allocated by the first scheduling server to theaccess point according to the scheduling indication table and thespectrum list has been taken back by the first scheduling server,instructing the access point to perform scheduling transmission by usingthe contention frequency band that is allocated by the first schedulingserver to the access point according to the spectrum list and thescheduling request; or if the contention frequency band that isallocated by the first scheduling server to the access point accordingto the scheduling indication table and the spectrum list is not takenback by the first scheduling server, instructing the access point toperform scheduling transmission by using the contention frequency bandthat is allocated by the first scheduling server according to thescheduling indication table and the spectrum list and the contentionfrequency band that is allocated by the first scheduling server to theaccess point according to the spectrum list and the scheduling request.

Referring to FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a schematic composition diagram of afirst embodiment of an access point, where the access point includes: asending unit no, configured to send a scheduling request to a firstscheduling server according to a data transmission requirement, wherethe scheduling request includes frequency band bandwidth information ofa contention frequency band that is applied for and frequency band usetime information of the contention frequency band that is applied for,and preferably, the scheduling request may further include frequencyband range information of the contention frequency band that is appliedfor. The access point also includes a receiving unit 120, configured toreceive a contention frequency band that is allocated by the firstscheduling server to the access point according to a spectrum list andthe scheduling request, where the spectrum list includes at leastfrequency band use information and interference information of theaccess point; the interference information is acquired by the accesspoint by listening on the channel and is reported to the firstscheduling server; or the interference information is obtained, throughcalculation, by the first scheduling server according to locationinformation of the access point and signal receiving and transmittingstatuses of another access point that is a preset distance from theaccess point; and the interference information includes an interferencesource, an interference frequency band range, and interferenceintensity; and a scheduling transmission unit 130, configured to performscheduling transmission by using the allocated contention frequencyband.

The sending unit no is further configured to: determine, according tothe data transmission requirement, whether data is transmitted in acontention frequency band manner or a scheduling frequency band manner,and if data is transmitted in the scheduling frequency band manner, sendthe scheduling request to the first scheduling server.

The sending unit 110 is further configured to: when a service priorityof the data transmission requirement is lower than a preset priority, orwhen a data capacity of the data transmission requirement is less than apreset capacity, or when a data packet length of the data transmissionrequirement is greater than a preset packet length, or when a data rateof the data transmission requirement is less than a preset rate,transmit data in the contention frequency band manner; or when a servicepriority of the data transmission requirement is higher than or equal toa preset priority, or when a data capacity of the data transmissionrequirement is greater than or equal to a preset capacity, or when adata packet length of the data transmission requirement is less than apreset packet length, or when a data rate of the data transmissionrequirement is greater than a preset rate, transmit data in thescheduling frequency band manner.

The scheduling transmission unit 130 is specifically configured to send,to a station (STA) associated with the access point, data directly byusing the allocated contention frequency band without listening on achannel; or instruct a station (STA) associated with the access point toswitch from a contention access mode to a scheduling access mode, sothat the station (STA) associated with the access point sends data tothe access point directly by using the allocated contention frequencyband without listening on a channel.

If a management area of the first scheduling server and a managementarea of a second scheduling server have an overlapping area, and theaccess point is located in the overlapping area, after the sending unitno sends the scheduling request to the first scheduling server, thereceiving unit 120 is further configured to receive a decision resultreturned by a decision server or receive a decision result forwarded bythe first scheduling server, and the scheduling transmission unit 130 isfurther configured to perform scheduling transmission according to anallocated contention frequency band in the decision result, where amanagement area of each scheduling server is determined according to aspectrum list corresponding to each scheduling server, and the decisionresult is further used to inform the second scheduling server of thecontention frequency band allocated by the decision server to the accesspoint; or after the sending unit no sends the scheduling request to thefirst scheduling server, the receiving unit 120 is further configuredto: receive a contention frequency band that is allocated by the firstscheduling server to the access point according to a frequency bandrange allocated in advance by a decision server, and instruct thescheduling transmission unit 130 to perform scheduling transmission.

The allocated contention frequency band in the decision result isdetermined by the decision server in at least one of the followingmanners: allocating different frequency bands to different accesspoints; and allocating different time ranges for using a same frequencyband to different access points.

Preferably, the access point may further include: a monitoring unit,configured to: if another access point that is not connected to thefirst scheduling server is detected in coverage of the access point,report location information, coverage information, and information aboutan occupied contention frequency band that are of the detected anotheraccess point to the first scheduling server, so that the firstscheduling server updates the spectrum list and performs contentionfrequency band scheduling according to an updated spectrum list.

The sending unit no is further configured to broadcast, to a basicservice set associated with the access point, a scheduling channel beingused and a scheduling frequency band in which the scheduling channel islocated, so that a station (STA) that is in the basic service set andthat does not use the scheduling channel or that does not use thescheduling frequency band in which the scheduling channel is locatedapplies to use the scheduling channel and the scheduling frequency bandin which the scheduling channel is located.

The receiving unit 120 is further configured to receive schedulingtermination information sent by the first scheduling server, andinstruct the scheduling transmission unit 130 to stop using a contentionfrequency band indicated in the scheduling termination information forscheduling transmission; or when duration in which the access pointperforms scheduling transmission by using the contention frequency bandallocated by the first scheduling server reaches duration defined in thefrequency band use time information of the contention frequency bandthat is applied for, the scheduling transmission unit 130 is furtherconfigured to stop using the contention frequency band allocated by thefirst scheduling server for scheduling transmission.

The sending unit no may serve as a transmitter of the access point, thereceiving unit 120 may serve as a receiver of the access point, and thescheduling transmission unit 130 may serve as a processor of the accesspoint, to correspondingly implement various operations in thisembodiment.

Referring to FIG. 7, FIG. 7 a schematic composition diagram of a secondembodiment of an access point. The access point includes: a receivingunit 140, configured to receive a contention frequency band that isallocated by a first scheduling server to the access point within firstpreset duration according to a scheduling indication table and aspectrum list, where the scheduling indication table includes capabilityindication information about whether the access point supportsscheduling transmission and information about a scheduling bandwidthsupported by the access point, and the spectrum list includes frequencyband use information and interference information of the access point;the interference information is acquired by the access point bylistening on the channel and is reported to the first scheduling server;or the interference information is obtained, through calculation, by thefirst scheduling server according to location information of the accesspoint and signal receiving and transmitting statuses of another accesspoint that is a preset distance from the access point; and theinterference information includes an interference source, aninterference frequency band range, and interference intensity; and ascheduling transmission unit 15o, configured to perform schedulingtransmission by using the contention frequency band allocated by thefirst scheduling server.

The scheduling transmission unit 150 is further configured to send, to astation (STA) associated with the access point, data directly by usingthe allocated contention frequency band in scheduling indicationinformation without listening on a channel; or instruct a station (STA)associated with the access point to switch from a contention access modeto a scheduling access mode, so that the station (STA) associated withthe access point sends data to the access point directly by using theallocated contention frequency band in scheduling indication informationwithout listening on a channel.

If a management area of the first scheduling server and a managementarea of a second scheduling server have an overlapping area, and theaccess point is located in the overlapping area, the contentionfrequency band allocated by the first scheduling server to the accesspoint is in a frequency band range that is allocated in advance by adecision server.

The frequency band range allocated in advance is determined by thedecision server in at least one of the following manners: allocatingdifferent frequency bands to different access points; and allocatingdifferent time ranges for using a same frequency band to differentaccess points.

Preferably, the access point may further include: a sending unit,configured to send a scheduling request to the first scheduling serveraccording to a data transmission requirement, where the schedulingrequest includes frequency band bandwidth information of a contentionfrequency band that is applied for and frequency band use timeinformation of the contention frequency band that is applied for.

The receiving unit 140 is further configured to receive, within secondpreset duration, a contention frequency band that is allocated by thefirst scheduling server to the access point according to the spectrumlist and the scheduling request, where the second preset duration isless than the first preset duration; and if the contention frequencyband that is allocated by the first scheduling server to the accesspoint according to the scheduling indication table and the spectrum listhas been taken back by the first scheduling server, the schedulingtransmission unit 150 is further configured to perform schedulingtransmission by using the contention frequency band that is allocated bythe first scheduling server to the access point according to thespectrum list and the scheduling request; or if the contention frequencyband that is allocated by the first scheduling server to the accesspoint according to the scheduling indication table and the spectrum listis not taken back by the first scheduling server, the schedulingtransmission unit 150 is further configured to perform schedulingtransmission by using the contention frequency band that is allocated bythe first scheduling server according to the scheduling indication tableand the spectrum list and the contention frequency band that isallocated by the first scheduling server to the access point accordingto the spectrum list and the scheduling request.

It should be noted that, the foregoing scheduling transmission unit maybe separately set in a form of hardware independently of a processor ofthe access point, and may be set in a form of a microprocessor; or maybe embedded in a processor of the access point in a form of hardware; ormay also be stored in a memory of the access point in a form ofsoftware, so that the processor of the access point invokes thescheduling transmission unit to perform operations corresponding to thescheduling transmission unit.

For example, in the second embodiment of the access point (theembodiment shown in FIG. 7), the receiving unit 140 may serve as areceiver of the access point, and the scheduling transmission unit 150may serve as a processor of the access point, to correspondinglyimplement various operations in this embodiment.

For another example, in the first embodiment of the access point (theembodiment shown in FIG. 6), the scheduling transmission unit 130 may bea processor of the access point, and functions of the sending unit noand the receiving unit 120 may be embedded in the processor. Inaddition, the monitoring unit and the scheduling transmission unit 130may be separately set independently of the processor, or may be embeddedin the processor, or may also be stored in a memory in a form ofsoftware, so as to be invoked by the processor to implement functionsthereof.

Certainly, the sending unit no and the receiving unit 120 may alsorespectively serve as a transmitter and a receiver of the access point,and may be integrated with the scheduling transmission unit 130 or themonitoring unit or may also be set independently, which is not limitedin this embodiment of the present invention. The foregoing processor maybe a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a single-chipmicrocomputer, or the like.

Referring to FIG. 8, FIG. 8 is a schematic composition diagram of athird embodiment of an access point. In this embodiment, the accesspoint includes: a processor 160 and a memory 170 cooperating with theprocessor 160.

The memory 170 is configured to store a set of program code, and theprocessor 160 is configured to invoke the program code stored in thememory 170, to perform the operations in either of the first and secondembodiments of the scheduling method.

Referring to FIG. 9, FIG. 9 is a schematic composition diagram of afirst embodiment of a scheduling server. The scheduling server includes:a receiving unit 210, configured to receive a scheduling request that issent by an access point according to a data transmission requirement,where the scheduling request includes frequency band bandwidthinformation of a contention frequency band that is applied for andfrequency band use time information of the contention frequency bandthat is applied for, and preferably, the scheduling request may furtherinclude frequency band range information of the contention frequencyband that is applied for. The server also includes a scheduling unit220, configured to allocate a contention frequency band to the accesspoint according to a spectrum list and the scheduling request, where thespectrum list includes at least frequency band use information andinterference information of the access point; and the interferenceinformation is acquired by the access point by listening on the channeland is reported to the scheduling server; or the interferenceinformation is obtained, through calculation, by the scheduling serveraccording to location information of the access point and signalreceiving and transmitting statuses of another access point that is apreset distance from the access point; and the interference informationincludes an interference source, an interference frequency band range,and interference intensity. The server also includes a sending unit 230,configured to send a contention frequency band allocation result to theaccess point, so that the access point performs scheduling transmissionby using the allocated contention frequency band.

The scheduling request is initiated when the access point determines,according to the data transmission requirement, that data needs to betransmitted in a scheduling frequency band manner, which specificallyincludes: the scheduling request is initiated by the access point when aservice priority of the data transmission requirement is higher than orequal to a preset priority, or when a data capacity of the datatransmission requirement is greater than or equal to a preset capacity,or when a data packet length of the data transmission requirement isless than a preset packet length, or when a data rate of the datatransmission requirement is greater than a preset rate.

Preferably, the scheduling server may further include: an updating unit,configured to update the spectrum list after the contention frequencyband allocation result is sent to the access point, and record theallocated contention frequency band and an allocated use time thereof.

If a management area of the scheduling server and a management area ofanother scheduling server have an overlapping area, and the access pointis located in the overlapping area, after the receiving unit 210receives the scheduling request sent by the access point, the sendingunit 230 is further configured to send the scheduling request to adecision server, receive a decision result that is returned by thedecision server after the decision server makes a decision, and forwardthe decision result to the access point, so that the access pointperforms scheduling transmission according to an allocated contentionfrequency band in the decision result, where a management area of eachscheduling server is determined according to a spectrum listcorresponding to each scheduling server, and the decision result isfurther used to inform the another scheduling server of the contentionfrequency band allocated by the decision server to the access point; orthe scheduling unit 220 is further configured to allocate a contentionfrequency band to the access point according to a frequency band rangethat is allocated in advance by a decision server.

The allocated contention frequency band in the decision result isdetermined by the decision server in at least one of the followingmanners: allocating different frequency bands to different accesspoints; and allocating different time ranges for using a same frequencyband to different access points.

If the access point detects, in coverage thereof, another access pointthat is not connected to the scheduling server, the receiving unit 210is further configured to receive location information, coverageinformation, and information about an occupied contention frequency bandof the another access point that are reported by the access point; andthe updating unit is further configured to update the spectrum list andinstruct the scheduling unit 220 to perform contention frequency bandscheduling according to an updated spectrum list.

The sending unit 230 is further configured to send schedulingtermination information to the access point, to instruct the accesspoint to stop using a contention frequency band indicated in thescheduling termination information for scheduling transmission; or whenduration in which the access point performs scheduling transmission byusing the contention frequency band allocated by the scheduling serverreaches duration defined in the frequency band use time information ofthe contention frequency band that is applied for, the scheduling unit220 is further configured to take back the allocated contentionfrequency band and instruct the updating unit to update the spectrumlist.

The receiving unit 210 may serve as a receiver of the access point, thescheduling unit 220 may serve as a processor of the access point, andthe sending unit 230 may serve as a transmitter of the access point, tocorrespondingly implement various operations in this embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 10, FIG. 10 is a schematic composition diagram of asecond embodiment of a scheduling server. The scheduling serverincludes: a scheduling unit 240, configured to allocate a contentionfrequency band to an access point within first preset duration accordingto a scheduling indication table and a spectrum list, where thescheduling indication table includes capability indication informationabout whether the access point supports scheduling transmission andinformation about a scheduling bandwidth supported by the access point,and the spectrum list includes frequency band use information andinterference information of the access point; the interferenceinformation is acquired by the access point by listening on the channeland is reported to the scheduling server; or the interferenceinformation is obtained, through calculation, by the scheduling serveraccording to location information of the access point and signalreceiving and transmitting statuses of another access point that is apreset distance from the access point; and the interference informationincludes an interference source, an interference frequency band range,and interference intensity. Also included isa sending unit 250,configured to send a contention frequency band allocation result to theaccess point, so that the access point performs scheduling transmissionby using the allocated contention frequency band.

If a management area of the scheduling server and a management area ofanother scheduling server have an overlapping area, and the access pointis located in the overlapping area, the contention frequency bandallocated by the scheduling unit 240 to the access point is in afrequency band range that is allocated in advance by a decision server.

The frequency band range allocated in advance is determined by thedecision server in at least one of the following manners: allocatingdifferent frequency bands to different access points; and allocatingdifferent time ranges for using a same frequency band to differentaccess points.

Preferably, the scheduling server may further include: a receiving unit260, configured to receive a scheduling request that is sent by theaccess point according to a data transmission requirement.

The scheduling request includes frequency band bandwidth information ofa contention frequency band that is applied for and frequency band usetime information of the contention frequency band that is applied for.

The scheduling unit 240 is further configured to allocate, within secondpreset duration, a contention frequency band to the access pointaccording to the spectrum list and the scheduling request, where thesecond preset duration is less than the first preset duration; and ifthe contention frequency band that is allocated by the scheduling unit240 to the access point according to the scheduling indication table andthe spectrum list has been taken back, instruct the access point toperform scheduling transmission by using the contention frequency bandthat is allocated by the scheduling unit 240 to the access pointaccording to the spectrum list and the scheduling request; or if thecontention frequency band that is allocated by the scheduling unit 240to the access point according to the scheduling indication table and thespectrum list is not taken back, instruct the access point to performscheduling transmission by using the contention frequency band that isallocated by the scheduling unit 240 according to the schedulingindication table and the spectrum list and the contention frequency bandthat is allocated by the scheduling unit 240 to the access pointaccording to the spectrum list and the scheduling request.

It should be noted that, the foregoing scheduling unit may be separatelyset in a form of hardware independently of a processor of the schedulingserver, and may be set in a form of a microprocessor; or may be embeddedin a processor of the scheduling server in a form of hardware; or mayalso be stored in a memory of the scheduling server in a form ofsoftware, so that the processor of the scheduling server invokes thescheduling unit to perform operations corresponding to the schedulingunit.

For example, in the second embodiment of the scheduling server (theembodiment shown in FIG. 10), the scheduling unit 240 may serve as aprocessor of the scheduling server, and the sending unit 250 may serveas a transmitter of the scheduling server, to correspondingly implementvarious operations in this embodiment.

For another example, in the first embodiment of the scheduling server(the embodiment shown in FIG. 9), the scheduling unit 220 may be aprocessor of the scheduling server, and functions of the receiving unit210 and the sending unit 230 may be embedded in the processor. Inaddition, the updating unit and the scheduling unit 220 may beseparately set independently of the processor, or may be embedded in theprocessor, or may also be stored in a memory in a form of software, soas to be invoked by the processor to implement functions thereof.

Certainly, the receiving unit 210 and the sending unit 230 may alsorespectively serve as a receiver and a transmitter of the schedulingserver, and may be integrated with the scheduling unit 220 or theupdating unit or may also be set independently, which is not limited inthis embodiment of the present invention. The foregoing processor may bea central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a single-chipmicrocomputer, or the like.

Referring to FIG. 11, FIG. 11 is a schematic composition diagram of athird embodiment of a scheduling server. In this embodiment, thescheduling server includes: a processor 260 and a memory 270 cooperatingwith the processor 260.

The memory 270 is configured to store a set of program code, and theprocessor 260 is configured to invoke the program code stored in thememory 270, to perform the operations in either of the third and fourthembodiments of the scheduling method.

Referring to FIG. 12, FIG. 12 is a schematic composition diagram of afirst embodiment of a scheduling system. The scheduling system includes:at least one access point 10 according to the first embodiment of theaccess point and at least one scheduling server 20 according to thefirst embodiment of the scheduling server; or includes at least oneaccess point 10 according to the second embodiment of the access pointand at least one scheduling server 20 according to the second embodimentof the scheduling server.

One scheduling server 20 may be connected to multiple access points 10,and one access point 10 may be connected to multiple STAs. The accesspoint 10 may proactively initiate a scheduling request to the schedulingserver 20, to apply for frequency band scheduling, so as to achieve aneffect of coexistence of contention access and scheduling access in ascheduling system.

Referring to FIG. 13, FIG. 13 is a schematic composition diagram of asecond embodiment of a scheduling system according to the presentinvention. The scheduling system includes: a first access point 11, asecond access point 12, a first scheduling server 21, a secondscheduling server 22, and a decision server 30.

If the access point includes the first access point ii and the secondaccess point 12, the scheduling server includes the first schedulingserver 21 and the second scheduling server 22, the first access point 11is connected to the first scheduling server 21, the second access point12 is connected to the second scheduling server 22, and a managementarea of the first scheduling server 21 and a management area of thesecond scheduling server 22 have an overlapping area, the system furtherincludes: the decision server 30, configured to: when any one or moreaccess points located in the overlapping area initiate a schedulingrequest, receive the scheduling request from a corresponding schedulingserver and make a decision, and send a decision result to the accesspoint that initiates the scheduling request or forward a decision resultby using the corresponding scheduling server, so that the access pointthat initiates the scheduling request performs scheduling transmissionaccording to an allocated contention frequency band in the decisionresult, where a management area of each scheduling server is determinedaccording to a spectrum list corresponding to each scheduling server.

The decision server 30 is integrated with any scheduling server or isset independently.

In this embodiment, a scenario of two scheduling servers is used fordescription; in a scenario of multiple scheduling servers, a processingmanner is similar, which is not described in detail again herein. Aftera decision server is added, a problem of conflict, that is, overlappingfrequency bands of access points connected to multiple schedulingservers, can be resolved.

It should be noted that the embodiments in this specification are alldescribed in a progressive manner, each embodiment focuses on adifference from other embodiments, and for same or similar parts in theembodiments, refer to each other. An apparatus embodiment is basicallysimilar to a method embodiment, and therefore is described briefly; forrelated parts, refer to partial descriptions in the method embodiment.

According to the description of the foregoing embodiments, the presentinvention has the following advantages.

In a scenario in which a frequency band is shared and contention isallowed, by initiating a scheduling request to a scheduling server, anaccess point may apply for a public contention frequency band forscheduling transmission; the scheduling server then allocates a suitablecontention frequency band to the access point according to actual usageof a contention frequency band resource and the scheduling request ofthe access point, thereby implementing addition of scheduling access toa contention access system. Therefore, scheduling access and contentionaccess can coexist, and the efficiency and compatibility of a wirelesscommunications system are improved.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may understand that all or some ofthe steps of the method embodiments may be implemented by a programinstructing related hardware. The program may be stored in acomputer-readable storage medium. When the program runs, the steps ofthe method embodiments are performed. The foregoing storage mediumincludes: any medium that can store program code, such as a ROM, a RAM,a magnetic disk, or an optical disc.

A scheduling method, an access point, a scheduling server, and ascheduling system provided by the embodiments are described in detailabove. Specific examples are used herein to illustrate the principle andimplementation manner of the present invention, and the description ofthe foregoing embodiments is merely used to help understand the methodof the present invention and the core idea thereof. Moreover, for aperson of ordinary skill in the art, according to the idea of thepresent invention, modifications may be made to the specificimplementation manner and the application scope. In conclusion, thecontent of the specification should not be construed as a limitation tothe present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: sending, by an accesspoint, a scheduling request to a first scheduling server according to adata transmission requirement, wherein the scheduling request comprisesfrequency band bandwidth information of a contention frequency band thatis applied for and frequency band use time information of the contentionfrequency band that is applied for; receiving, by the access point, acontention frequency band that is allocated by the first schedulingserver to the access point according to a spectrum list and thescheduling request, wherein the spectrum list comprises frequency banduse information and interference information of the access point; andperforming, by the access point, scheduling transmission using theallocated contention frequency band.
 2. The method according to claim 1,wherein sending the scheduling request to the first scheduling serveraccording to the data transmission requirement further comprises:determining, by the access point according to the data transmissionrequirement, whether data is transmitted in a contention frequency bandmanner or a scheduling frequency band manner, and in response to thedata being transmitted in the scheduling frequency band manner, sendingthe scheduling request to the first scheduling server.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 2, wherein determining whether data is transmitted ina contention frequency band manner or a scheduling frequency band mannerfurther comprises: in response to a service priority of the datatransmission requirement being lower than a preset priority, or inresponse to a data capacity of the data transmission requirement beingless than a preset capacity, or in response to a data packet length ofthe data transmission requirement being greater than a preset packetlength, or in response to a data rate of the data transmissionrequirement being less than a preset rate, transmitting data in thecontention frequency band manner; and in response to a service priorityof the data transmission requirement being higher than or equal to apreset priority, or in response to a data capacity of the datatransmission requirement being greater than or equal to a presetcapacity, or in response to a data packet length of the datatransmission requirement being less than a preset packet length, or inresponse to a data rate of the data transmission requirement beinggreater than a preset rate, transmitting data in the schedulingfrequency band manner.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein, inresponse to a management area of the first scheduling server and amanagement area of a second scheduling server having an overlappingarea, and the access point being located in the overlapping area, themethod further comprises: after sending the scheduling request to thefirst scheduling server, receiving, by the access point, a decisionresult returned by a decision server or receiving a decision resultforwarded by the first scheduling server, and performing schedulingtransmission according to an allocated contention frequency band in thedecision result, wherein a management area of each scheduling server isdetermined according to a spectrum list corresponding to each schedulingserver, and the decision result is further used to inform the secondscheduling server of the contention frequency band allocated by thedecision server to the access point; or after sending the schedulingrequest to the first scheduling server, receiving, by the access point,a contention frequency band that is allocated by the first schedulingserver to the access point according to a frequency band range allocatedin advance by a decision server, and performing scheduling transmission.5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: in response tothe access point detecting, in coverage thereof, another access pointthat is not connected to the first scheduling server, reporting locationinformation, coverage information, and information about an occupiedcontention frequency band that are of the detected another access pointto the first scheduling server, so that the first scheduling serverupdates the spectrum list and performs contention frequency bandscheduling according to an updated spectrum list.
 6. The methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising: broadcasting, by the accesspoint to a basic service set associated with the access point, ascheduling channel being used and a scheduling frequency band in whichthe scheduling channel is located, so that a station (STA) that is inthe basic service set and that does not use the scheduling channel orthat does not use the scheduling frequency band in which the schedulingchannel is located applies to use the scheduling channel and thescheduling frequency band in which the scheduling channel is located. 7.The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by theaccess point, scheduling termination information sent by the firstscheduling server, and stopping using a contention frequency bandindicated in the scheduling termination information for schedulingtransmission; or in response to a duration in which the access pointperforms scheduling transmission using the contention frequency bandallocated by the first scheduling server reaches a duration defined inthe frequency band use time information of the contention frequency bandthat is applied for, stopping, by the access point, using the contentionfrequency band allocated by the first scheduling server for schedulingtransmission.
 8. A method, comprising: receiving, by a first schedulingserver, a scheduling request that is sent by an access point accordingto a data transmission requirement, wherein the scheduling requestcomprises frequency band bandwidth information of a contention frequencyband that is applied for and frequency band use time information of thecontention frequency band that is applied for; allocating, by the firstscheduling server, a contention frequency band to the access pointaccording to a spectrum list and the scheduling request, wherein thespectrum list comprises frequency band use information and interferenceinformation of the access point; and sending a contention frequency bandallocation result to the access point, so that the access point performsscheduling transmission by using the allocated contention frequencyband.
 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the scheduling requestis initiated in response to the access point determining, according tothe data transmission requirement, that data needs to be transmitted ina scheduling frequency band manner, which specifically comprises:initiating, by the access point, the scheduling request in response to aservice priority of the data transmission requirement being higher thanor equal to a preset priority, or in response to a data capacity of thedata transmission requirement being greater than or equal to a presetcapacity, or in response to a data packet length of the datatransmission requirement being less than a preset packet length, or inresponse to a data rate of the data transmission requirement beinggreater than a preset rate.
 10. The method according to claim 8,wherein, after sending the contention frequency band allocation resultto the access point, the method further comprises: updating, by thefirst scheduling server, the spectrum list, and recording the allocatedcontention frequency band and an allocated use time thereof.
 11. Themethod according to claim 8, further comprising: in response to amanagement area of the first scheduling server and a management area ofa second scheduling server having an overlapping area, and the accesspoint being located in the overlapping area, after the first schedulingserver receives the scheduling request sent by the access point,sending, by the first scheduling server, the scheduling request to adecision server, receiving a decision result that is returned by thedecision server after the decision server makes a decision, andforwarding the decision result to the access point, so that the accesspoint performs scheduling transmission according to an allocatedcontention frequency band in the decision result, wherein a managementarea of each scheduling server is determined according to a spectrumlist corresponding to each scheduling server, and the decision result isfurther used to inform the second scheduling server of the contentionfrequency band allocated by the decision server to the access point; orallocating, by the first scheduling server, a contention frequency bandto the access point according to a frequency band range that isallocated in advance by a decision server.
 12. The method according toclaim 8, further comprising: sending, by the first scheduling server,scheduling termination information to the access point, to instruct theaccess point to stop using a contention frequency band indicated in thescheduling termination information for scheduling transmission; or inresponse to a duration in which the access point performs schedulingtransmission by using the contention frequency band allocated by thefirst scheduling server reaching a duration defined in the frequencyband use time information of the contention frequency band that isapplied for, taking back, by the first scheduling server, the allocatedcontention frequency band and updating the spectrum list.
 13. An accesspoint, comprising: a transmitter, configured to send a schedulingrequest to a first scheduling server according to a data transmissionrequirement, wherein the scheduling request comprises frequency bandbandwidth information of a contention frequency band that is applied forand frequency band use time information of the contention frequency bandthat is applied for; a receiver, configured to receive a contentionfrequency band that is allocated by the first scheduling server to theaccess point according to a spectrum list and the scheduling request,wherein the spectrum list comprises frequency band use information andinterference information of the access point; and a processor,configured to perform scheduling transmission using the allocatedcontention frequency band.
 14. The access point according to claim 13,wherein the transmitter is further configured to determine, according tothe data transmission requirement, whether data is transmitted in acontention frequency band manner or a scheduling frequency band manner,and in response to data being transmitted in the scheduling frequencyband manner, sending the scheduling request to the first schedulingserver.
 15. The access point according to claim 13, wherein, in responseto a management area of the first scheduling server and a managementarea of a second scheduling server having an overlapping area, and theaccess point being located in the overlapping area, the access point isfurther configured as follows: after the transmitter sends thescheduling request to the first scheduling server, the receiver isfurther configured to receive a decision result returned by a decisionserver or receive a decision result forwarded by the first schedulingserver, and the processor is further configured to perform schedulingtransmission according to an allocated contention frequency band in thedecision result, wherein a management area of each scheduling server isdetermined according to a spectrum list corresponding to each schedulingserver, and the decision result is further used to inform the secondscheduling server of the contention frequency band allocated by thedecision server to the access point; or after the transmitter sends thescheduling request to the first scheduling server, the receiver isfurther configured to receive a contention frequency band that isallocated by the first scheduling server to the access point accordingto a frequency band range allocated in advance by a decision server, andinstruct the processor to perform scheduling transmission.
 16. Theaccess point according to claim 13, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to: in response to another access point that is not connectedto the first scheduling server being detected in coverage of the accesspoint, report location information, coverage information, andinformation about an occupied contention frequency band that are of thedetected another access point to the first scheduling server, so thatthe first scheduling server updates the spectrum list and performscontention frequency band scheduling according to an updated spectrumlist.
 17. The access point according to claim 13, wherein thetransmitter is further configured to broadcast, to a basic service setassociated with the access point, a scheduling channel being used and ascheduling frequency band in which the scheduling channel is located, sothat a station (STA) that is in the basic service set and that does notuse the scheduling channel or that does not use the scheduling frequencyband in which the scheduling channel is located applies to use thescheduling channel and the scheduling frequency band in which thescheduling channel is located.
 18. A scheduling server, comprising: areceiver, configured to receive a scheduling request that is sent by anaccess point according to a data transmission requirement, wherein thescheduling request comprises frequency band bandwidth information of acontention frequency band that is applied for and frequency band usetime information of the contention frequency band that is applied for; aprocessor, configured to allocate a contention frequency band to theaccess point according to a spectrum list and the scheduling request,wherein the spectrum list comprises frequency band use information andinterference information of the access point; and a transmitter,configured to send a contention frequency band allocation result to theaccess point, so that the access point performs scheduling transmissionusing the allocated contention frequency band.
 19. The scheduling serveraccording to claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured toupdate the spectrum list after the contention frequency band allocationresult is sent to the access point, and record the allocated contentionfrequency band and an allocated use time thereof.
 20. The schedulingserver according to claim 18, wherein: in response to a management areaof the scheduling server and a management area of another schedulingserver having an overlapping area, and the access point being located inthe overlapping area, after the receiver receives the scheduling requestsent by the access point, the transmitter is further configured to sendthe scheduling request to a decision server, receive a decision resultthat is returned by the decision server after the decision server makesa decision, and forward the decision result to the access point, so thatthe access point performs scheduling transmission according to anallocated contention frequency band in the decision result, wherein amanagement area of each scheduling server is determined according to aspectrum list corresponding to each scheduling server, and the decisionresult is further used to inform the another scheduling server of thecontention frequency band allocated by the decision server to the accesspoint; or the processor is further configured to allocate a contentionfrequency band to the access point according to a frequency band rangethat is allocated in advance by a decision server.